To Have or Not to Have

maggiesmom1

I had my daughter in June 2011. At the time I had my education but could not find a job and my husband did not have his education and did not have a good job. We lived at my parents house and all felt hopeless. Flash forward to now, this is my third year as a public school teacher. I have full benefits and a great salary. My husband went a technical school and now is in the HVAC union and makes an awesome salary. We live in a large two bedroom apartment and our daughter goes to a great daycare.
We were convinced we were going to have one child but now I want another one so my daughter always has someone growing up and because hey another child would be great. But, we are scared. Will we be able to afford another one?  Will we be able to buy a house if we have another one?  I am not asking these questions to you guys as if I want you to answer them because obviously you can not...A  little bit of advice or some kind words would certainly help me with this.
Thanks in advance

kcisthebombdotcom

It's tough to give advice. How are we supposed to know if you can afford another kid or a house with zero information? It's probably a good time to meet with a financial advisor.

Ducktale

I agree with KC. Some people will tell you bullshit like "you'll find a way to make it work, all you need is love" but the truth is, some people can afford another baby, some can't. My best advice is figure out how much another baby would cost (factor in the costs from L&D, day care, health insurance, plus the essentials like diapers, etc.) and try living on that budget for several months. If you have enough saved at the end of the month, well that's a good sign. The extra money from those months can be put into emergency savings. And of course make ure both you and H are ready.

Twinkie0612

You should sit down and look at your budget (and be realistic).  

Look into what kind of house you want and figure out what the mortgage payment would be (don't forget taxes and insurance), this will largely depend on the amount of money you have to put down.  Also remember if you don't have 20% to put down, you will have to add PMI on to the cost of your mortgage.

Estimate the monthly cost of a newborn, not only diapers, formula, etc, but also the increase in health insurance premiums (depends on your insurance plan) and the cost of day care for a newborn.  Also don't forget that you will need money to cover the cost of delivery and any unpaid time off you might take from work.

Now on top of the mortgage and newborn costs, add in all of your usual expenses. 

Compare your total expenses to your monthly income, you should be able to figure out if you can afford a baby or not.

I think it's great that you are considering your financial situation before trying for another baby.  So many people just have kids and figure that the money situation will work itself out.  It doesn't work like that. 

SmileyJay

Twinkie said it perfectly - "So many people just have kids and figure that the money situation will work itself out.  It doesn't work like that. "

Work the numbers and be realistic. It may make more sense to wait a few years. Get your daughter into kindergarten, buy the house you want, save money, grow your careers, and look at having a second when you are really ready. I understand the want to have children close in age, but you never know what the sibling relationship will be. Me and my sister are less than 2 years apart. I love her but we have never gotten along or been close to each other. We are just very different. The relationship is better as we have gotten older and matured so we can be civil lol but I have also known siblings 5+ years apart that are good friends. So you never know. 

I would definitely look into buying the house first. You could look into first home owners programs in your area or FHA mortgages. Meet with a few banks to get an idea of what you qualify for. They can pull your credit and look at your savings to give you things to work on to set you on the right track towards owning a home sooner. Good luck!

mcgeeva

Do what others say and put together a spreadsheet. We put in our salaries currently, all bills subtracted, added the cost of diapers, medical expenses and the cost to have a second in daycare and saw what was left. If we were unable to put a dime into savings after all those thing were taken out that answered our question. That is only if you want to move etc. without living paycheck to paycheck.

contourhands

I'm going to give opposite advice here.... As a teacher and someone in same boat as you I can say a home these days is totally doable ( bought one myself and my rent is same as in apt and I only had 6000 down on it)... And in our fields there is a ton of stability in income and work- good benefits- just do it and it will work out- if you can cut back on unneeded expenses and save a little over time it will all work out-I am going to do this- we are blessed in this country to have everything we need- people get by w far less in other countries- kids r blessings - good luck